This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
If you have read any of my posts in the last week or two, you know that I have been trying to make friends with failure.
If I want to make friends with it I must try and remember my first encounter with it.
My first memory of anything was a happy time, when I was 2 1/2 years old on a family trip to the Philippines. I remember being absolutely ecstatic at being able to flap my wrists. This is a photo of me with my grandfather during that visit.
It was on this same trip that I was told I did something else that became the source of laughter for the entire family. Since I was not yet potty trained, I had to go to the bathroom in my diaper. At this particular time I was told I was not wearing a diaper, so when I had to go #2, I went under the coffee table. And, even in my young age I knew that this was not the appropriate place to go to the bathroom, so I told one of my family members what I had done (as best as a two year-old can) which was then announced to the entire family – who was, at that time, the world.
It was not a good feeling. And it’s quite possible that I have been trying for an additional 30 years to cover up any perceived ‘mistakes’ I think I have made by not bringing attention to myself, by putting up a front of professionalism or a certain level of intelligence. The absolute truth is, we are not perfect. We do things where and when we are not supposed to, and we can learn from them. We fail. Sometimes others see it, and sometimes they don’t. Nevertheless we should not define ourselves by the failure but perhaps what we have learned from it and why we are the better for it.
Can you remember your first epic failure, and has it defined who you are today?
